The Biggest
Tea Party
Ever!
When we think of tea parties, we usually think of
tiny cups and tiny tea pots but in 1773 in Boston,
Massachusetts, the biggest tea party of all was held
with no cups or tea pots at all!
The Newspapers in Education (NIE) program strives to
promote literacy and responsible citizenship in children
and young adults through the inclusion of newspapers
with regular classroom curricula.
What did the
American colonists do?
NIE Contact Information
Dayton Daily News
nie.daytondailynews.com
Springfield News-Sun
nie.springfieldnewssun.com
The Middletown Journal
nie.middletownjournal.com
JournalNews
nie.journal-news.com
937-225-7364
email: [email protected]
ACTIVITIES
What does it mean?
Using context clues from the
information about the Boston Tea
Party, write down what each word
means or why it was important.
Monopoly
Tea Act
Sons of Liberty
History
In 1773 while the American Colonies were
still under the governance of Great Britain, the
government passed the Tea Act which gave a
monopoly on tea sales to the British East India
Company. In other words, the British East India
Company would rule nearly all of the market.
They passed the Tea Act because the British
East India Company wasn’t doing so well
financially, and by taxing others and not the
British East India Company, other merchants
prices would be much higher than those of the
British East India Company.
In fact, it was the cheapest tea around. It was
priced way below that of other teas sold by the
American colonists and since most American
colonists were looking for ways to cut costs and
save money, it was known that they would most
likely purchase the British tea instead of local
merchants’ tea.
Angry and frustrated at the new tax on tea, a
group of colonists who called themselves the Sons
of Liberty were determined to make things change.
The group, led by patriots such as Samuel Adams
and John Hancock, had secret meetings at which
they discussed how best to get their message
across to Great Britain. Their message was that
the American people wanted more of a role in
governing themselves.
At one of these gatherings, a resolution was
adopted that asked the consignees (the colonists
who allowed the tea to be brought to the ports)
to return the tea. Those tea agents, some of them
relatives of the governor, refused to do so.
One ship owner agreed to sail his tea back to
England but British officials denied permission for
the ship to clear the port.
The Sons of Liberty decided to take action.
Intolerable Acts
Word Scramble
Unscramble the words below to
make a word important to the Boston
Tea Party information. Explain why
each word is important.
stooniBsan
risBiht tEsa aIdni nCmyopa
eat
xetas
tsMasecuahsts
ANSWERS TO WORD SCRAMBLE
Bostonians; British East India Company; tea;
taxes; Massachusetts
Text sources
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/
bostonteapartydef.htm
http://www.surfnetkids.com/boston_tea_party.htm
http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0361-bostontea-party.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/history1/a/
bostonteaparty.htm
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-boston-teaparty.htm
http://www.entourages.com/barbs/bostonteaparty.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h646.html
The Tea Party begins!
On December 16, a group of nearly 150 members of the Sons of Liberty wore disguises that made them look like
Native Americans and stormed aboard the three British ships carrying tea. The men dumped 342 crates full of tea
overboard (about 10,000 pounds of tea!). It took nearly three hours to dump the crates and on the following day,
Bostonians boarded their row boats and oared their way through the tea forcing all tea to dissolve in the water so that
none of it could be saved. This event was known as the Boston Tea Party.
What happened after
the tea party?
Because the Sons of Liberty were
disguised as Native Americans, they
could claim that they were not guilty of
dumping the tea. The British government
knew better, of course, and grew angrier
than ever at what it saw as Americans’
ingratitude (being unthankful).
What did the British
Government do?
The British government was enraged. In response to the destruction of the tea shipment they passed a series of
laws known as the Intolerable Acts, which took most of the governing power from the people of Massachusetts,
laying all of the power into the British Government’s hands, as well as closing Boston’s port. The people of Boston
continued in their belief that taxation without representation was unfair. Other port towns throughout the colonies
were outraged, and many staged tea parties of their own, which sparked even more legislation from Britain. This was
the beginning of what would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War.
GREAT GIFT IDEA!
CHARITY NIGHT SKATES
The Dayton Dragons are selling backpacks
to support NIE. All proceeds from the backpack
go directly towards putting the newspapers into
your classrooms. For information on how to order,
go to http://www.daytondragons.com and click on
promotions.
Newspapers In Education will be recipients of funds at Five Rivers
MetroParks “Charity Night Skates” on January 10, 2009 from 7:00
pm to 10:00 pm at RiverScape MetroParks Ice Rink. For every $5.00
admission received, NIE will receive $2.50. This money helps to put
newspapers into your classrooms! Come out and join the fun! For
more information, contact the NIE coordinator at 937-225-7364.
PHOTO SOURCE: DREAMSTIME
STANDARDS SPOTLIGHT
Social Studies
English Language Arts
Explain how competition
affects producers and
consumers in a market
economy and why
specialization facilitates trade.
Determine the meanings and
pronunciations of unknown words
by using dictionaries, glossaries,
technology and textual feature, such as
definitional footnotes or sidebars.
Page development by Michelle Brown | Design by Susan Carroll